Ready to play with virtual reality in San Antonio?

The new film “Ready Player One” brings the best-selling novel to life with its depiction of main character Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) and the virtual reality technology he uses in the year 2045. VR tech in 2018 isn’t quite that advanced, but it can still take you out of this world. That includes VR tech in San Antonio, too. less

The new film “Ready Player One” brings the best-selling novel to life with its depiction of main character Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) and the virtual reality technology he uses in the year 2045. VR tech in ... more

Photo: Courtesy Warner Bros.

Photo: Courtesy Warner Bros.

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The new film “Ready Player One” brings the best-selling novel to life with its depiction of main character Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) and the virtual reality technology he uses in the year 2045. VR tech in 2018 isn’t quite that advanced, but it can still take you out of this world. That includes VR tech in San Antonio, too. less

The new film “Ready Player One” brings the best-selling novel to life with its depiction of main character Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) and the virtual reality technology he uses in the year 2045. VR tech in ... more

Photo: Courtesy Warner Bros.

Ready to play with virtual reality in San Antonio?

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In the new Steven Spielberg film “Ready Player One,” based on the bestselling novel of the same name, young Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) and other denizens of the year 2045 lose themselves in a vast digital universe called OASIS from the comfort of their own virtual reality headsets and haptic gear.

It’s a long ways away from VR available in 2018, let alone in San Antonio. Yet local VR experts expect more eye-opening fun to come, with San Antonio already hosting at least a few virtual and augmented reality offerings that can take you out of this world right now.

“Even though ‘Ready Player One’ is in the realm of science fiction … the (VR and AR) industry has made a lot of great strides,” said Andrew Trickett, co-founder of San Antonio-based Merge, which specializes in virtual and augmented reality. “And it continues to develop.”

Trickett said many of those developments now are on our smartphones, which can add augmented reality goodies like Pokémon Go creatures to the view from our touchscreens, as well as run stereoscopic VR apps while nestled inside a simple Google Cardboard viewer, foam Merge headset or other phone-friendly VR goggles.

Then there are higher-end VR setups that don’t need a phone, such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. These higher-priced VR headsets do, however, require a pricey computer with a strong graphics card. Of course, you could just sample such advanced VR for a lot less, or even for free, at a location-based VR vendor or demo.

Indeed, going out to get into VR may be the real future.

Murray Breitat Geomedia, a San Antonio-based production & interactive company that develops VR & AR applications, sees growing interest in businesses combining the spectacle of virtual reality with the free-roaming fun of laser tag or paintball.

He said a company called The Void is at the head of that movement. It has developed untethered “hyper-reality” games such as “Ghostbusters: Dimension” at Madame Tussauds New York and “Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire” at Disney Springs in Orlando, Florida. Breit said Dave & Buster’s and Main Event also are looking into VR games.

“It’s all coming,” Breit said. “The crest of the wave is right there.”

So what’s making a splash in the Alamo City? Here are some San Antonio-based VR and AR experiences ready to play with your expectations.

VR World:VR World offers more than 130 VR games to curl up with while seated inside an egg-shaped chair and wearing VR goggles. Or step right up to the VR Walker. The omnidirectional treadmill with waist support lets you run in place while firing a VR rifle at virtual baddies in “Battle of Mecha,” or engage in other upright VR action. (Shops at Rivercenter, $10 for one person, $15 for two)

Virtual reality at the San Antonio Book Festival: The San Antonio Book Festival isn’t just about exploring other worlds on the page. The event’s Geektown area for teens will offer all kinds of VR experiences. The IMG Studio out of San Antonio will host virtual reality wheelchair basketball and showcase VR worlds that include a forest that oversees a mountain range and a 360-degree look at San Antonio from above the city. Meanwhile, Whataburger will have VR glasses on hand so you can download a free app to see a 3-D rocket launch and other fun. (April 7 at Central Library, free)

Experience Real History: Alamo Edition app: Experience Real History: Alamo Edition by Alamo Reality superimposes augmented reality “layers” of the Alamo’s past over what visitors see at the shrine today. Open up the app at the Alamo and choose from locations on a map to see animated characters and battle, including what the Alamo courtyard looked like in 1836 and the room where James Bowie died, which no longer exists on the Alamo grounds. The app also features a scavenger hunt and bios of key Alamo figures, with an augmented reality map and AR trading cards coming in May. The app requires iPhone 6/Android 6 or newer devices. The $4.99 premium version offers more AR scenes and more than 100 additional videos, images and stories. (Free version and $4.99 premium version, available April 9 for iOS and May for Android)

Witte 300 app: Tied to the city’s tricentennial, the Witte Museum’s new “Confluence and Culture: 300 Years of San Antonio History” exhibit features a glass-encased diorama of the Alamo and surrounding area as it looked in 1836. Only when you look at it through the Witte 300 app, also by Alamo Reality, you get a handful of augmented reality scenes about the Battle of the Alamo, such as a Mexican soldier putting up a blood-red flag to signify no quarter. The app also offers diverse stories of the Alamo from the Texian and Tejano perspectives. (Free app download for Android and iOS devices, $5 iPad rental available at the museum)